Friday, December 12, 2014

Movie Review: The Babadook

The
reason why most horror movies are looked down upon (and rightly so) is that they
have forgotten what the term ‘horror movie’ means. Most filmmakers don’t
realize what turns a human being into a horror film buff. They assume horror
means either shock or cheap thrills or gore. That is not what a good horror
movie is about. What a good horror movie is about is creating a sense of unrelenting
tension and uneasiness in you. Which is why the best horror movies are the ones
which are more ‘creepy’ than ‘horrific’.

Films
like Sinister, James Wan’s recent
offerings, The Orphanage and even The Woman in Black all walked the tricky
tightrope between creepy and horrific. The new Australian movie The Babadook nails both the elements to
delightful perfection.

Directed
with stunning precision and sensitivity by debutant Jennifer Kent, The Babadook is spine tingling hair-raising
razor sharp entertainment. The plot presents itself as something very simple: a
single mother (Esse Davis) who has lost her husband a few years ago has a hard
time raising her increasingly disturbed kid. She lives in a fairly large house
made of creaking floors, gloomy lights and dark corners. Sleep is hard to come
by because her son is showing signs of sociopathic behavior. Things get even
worse when she finds a children’s cutout book named ‘The Babadook’, which
carries an eerie poem that warns them of a murderous Mr Babadook creeping in at
night when you sleep.

The
only way this scenario could transcend its clichés is by offering something
more than you expect it to, and rendering the thrills in a manner that don’t
feel hollow. Luckily, The Babadook
does just that. There are no cheap jump thrills – the film actually feeds you
the scares by making them probable (shudder). Mr Babadook himself is rather
iconic – the way he moves and sounds is very satisfyingly alarming. The moment
someone gets a phone call, a croaking voice says ‘Baaabaaa Dook Dook Dook’ and
the rear section of whatever you’re wearing is moistened immediately.

You
won’t see the ending coming, and even if you do you’re in luck – because Kent’s
direction of the familiar elements is stunning. When a character is cowering in
bed you know there’s something freaky above the sheets, but you can’t help
squeal in fear because of the way Kent shoots the scene. When kids fall off a
height she doesn’t show them dropping on the ground – the scene just cuts
before you can react, thereby taking your breath away. Kent also nails the
atmosphere and sound design to create constant tension in the film. She has
assisted Lars Von Trier previously, so apart from the technical stuff, she’s
also learned how to portray the intersection between the themes of grief and
terror from the best.

You
also don’t expect good acting from horror films so it’s great that Esse Davis
delivers an absolutely powerhouse performance here, perhaps one of the best of
the year. A sleep deprived single mother is the biggest cliché that an actor
can get but Davis is impossible to look away from. When her character veers
between uneasiness, melancholy and dread, you do too. Her character is itself
very well written, offering a female standpoint that is seldom explored by
Hollywood. She has no friends, her closest family member has a valid reason to
be distant from her, ironically her problematic son who is the root cause of
the depression in her life is the only one who genuinely loves her, and there’s
a ghost in the house trying to kill both of them. So how does someone like this
realistically deal with such a scenario? Call an exorcist? No - Kent goes much
farther than the surface. Funnily, the scenes where you don’t see The Babadook
work better than the ones when you do. It’s sort of like the case in Mama, where the fear of the unknown is
taken away from you the moment the monster shows up. Most fun is the book
itself that is featured in the movie – it’s beautifully designed, and really
really freaky.The Babadook has been garnering acclaim
during its festival rounds the whole year, so we’re lucky it’s in Indian
theaters. If you waste the opportunity and don’t see this film, you’ll hear
three knocks on your bedroom door at night. Dook Dook Dook. Chances are, he’s looking
at you reading this review, right behind you.